Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/92

 FIESOLE— FIGOLINO. 61 his works, though deficient in that plastic development which we find in the frescoes of Masaccio, are, with reference to their subjects, perfect in sentiment, and in expression admir- able. They are exclusively religious or ecclesiastical, and breathe the purest piety and humility, ever leading the thoughts heavenward, in their exqui- site conceptions. A man of the most fervent natural piety, and devoted enthusiasm for his art, he never com- menced painting Vithout prayer, and he never retouched or altered his pic- tures, believing his pencil in the first instance to have been guided by inspi- ration. High powers of art in other respects, also in character and in con- position, Ae prominently displayed in such works as St Laurence distribut- ing alms, in the chapel of Nicholas Y., or in Judas receiving the pieces of Silver, one of the series now in the Florentine Academy ; the latter containing heads and draperies of even Baphaelesque grandeur. So acute was his sensibility, says Yasari, that he shed tears when he represented the crucifixion. The genuiness of his sentiment and ex- pression was so self-evident, that his works became, in a great degree, the type of character for religious art, both to his own and subsequent generations. His execution is sometimes extremely elaborate, and often beautiful, especially in his small easel panels painted in distemper: he was also an excellent fresco-painter. There is, however, a want of thorough knowledge, and some- thing of the ascetic in his forms ; the physical being completely subordinate to the sentimental, probably designedly subdued, as, in accordance with reli- gious views at that time, mundane, and incompatible with an earnest spiritualism. Thus but for the intense and exalted sentiment of his works, which almost separates them from the real life of this world, they would be poor in style, and extremely limited in character, the unavoidable- fate of those of his imitators who altogether wanted his higher qualities. Works. Florence Academy, the Last Judgment, from the monastery degli Angeli; the Descent from the Gross ; and many scenes from the life of Christ, from the convent of the Nunziata ; and several others : Ufi&iy, Coronation of the Yirgin : Cloisters of St. Mark, the Crucifixion; and other frescoes. Perugia, San Domenico, various works. Fiesole, San Domenico, in the choir; and Refectory, <feo., several works. Rome, Yatican, chapel of Pope Nicholas Y. ; St. Laurence giving Alms; the Pleaching of St. Stephen; and other frescoes : Yatican Galleiy, two small pictures from the Life of St Nicholas of Bari ; from San Domenico in Perugia : Corsini Gallery, Last Judgment. Orvieto, Cathedral, Chapel of the Madonna di San Bnzio ; Christ as the Judge of the World. Louvre, the Coronation of the Yirgin. Berlin, Museum, the Last Judgment; and three other works. Frankfort, Stadel Institute, a small Madonna and Angels (tempera). {Vasari, Oiangia- condf Marchese, Life and Works by the Arundel Society.) FIGINO, AuBBOoio, flourished about 1590. Milanese School. A pupil of Gio. Paolo Lomazzo. He painted historical subjects and portraits ; but he was more distinguished in the latter branch : he was also a successful imitator of the drawings of Michel- angelo. Works. Milan, Sant' Eustorgio, a picture of Sant' Ambrogio : Sant' An- tonio, the Conception. Brera, Marshal Foppa; the Yirgin and Child, with Saints, <fec. {Orlandi, Lanzi.) FIGOLINO, Maeceixo, b. %t Vi- cenza, about 1430. Yenetian School. He excelled in chiaroscuro and per- spective, and painted with great de»